Bootstrapper.com - Confessions of Serial Entrepreneurs

This post is Dedicated to Steve. You know who you are.

In this post, my goal is to show you how my networking tricks relate to picking up tricks. I talk a lot about the power of networking and I call myself a professional networker but what everyone really wants to know is - ’so he’s this networking guru, fuck him, i bet he can’t get laid!’

BEFORE I SAY ANYTHING ELSE THERE IS ONE THING TO KEEP IN MIND - BE REAL - BE GENUINE - THESE ARE POWERFUL STRATEGIES, IF YOU ABUSE THEM MIKE TYSON WILL EAT YOUR CHILDREN. seriously though, please be a real person, these are just approaches that i have learned that work. Sure by reading this, you could say i’m full of crap that i’m just playing a game - well gentlemen life is a game but all of you that know me, know that i am genuine with all i say and do.

To Start Off, I’d like to say that I have a girlfriend, my Bluey who I love so I don’t need to pick up chics. I also won’t cheat on her because I don’t believe in cheating. But I still pick up girls all the time. I don’t do it on purpose, I just follow the same rules of networking whenever I meet new people and girls like me.

Now, I’m not 6′2, Dark, Body Builder. I’m 5′7, 160, athletic, though I admit I do have stunning eyes. I’m slightly above average. I know this, - you know this - but it doesn’t matter. I can still pick you up.

RULE 1: ALWAYS HAVE A LEAD IN

When meeting someone new, you want to have a way to lead into a conversation. In the Pick up Artist, Mystery calls these sets. I call them lead ins in business. They are what will spark a conversation. Jokes and probing questions are usually effective depending on the situation. For example, �A friend of mine cheated on her BF with another girl, should she tell him?� Or make a joke about the situation you are in. or maybe be a little coy � �So when was the last time a pickup line worked on you?� DO NOT USE A STANDARD PICKUP LINE.

In business this works similarly, don�t ask how you can work together. Ask what they really want to do. Ignore the name of their company and ignore what they currently do, ask them what they would like to do. This is extremely effective way to break down people�s barriers. I will go into more detail in my other rules. Or make a joke about the situation.

The best way to lead in is with a personal introduction which will be covered later.

RULE 2: CONFIDENCE

My first rule is what I just said “I can still pick you up” - It’s CONFIDENCE. Now look how I led into that statement. First I admitted I’m basically average looking, I admitted I am HUMAN. But then I followed it up with a confident statement. If I was the 6′2 dark guy then it would be an arrogant statement and arrogance tends to piss people off but because I led into it with honesty and by stating i’m the underdog, It’s confidence. There is a fine line between arrogance and confidence. Don’t cross it. Everyone is wary of the slicked back salesman. Everyone likes the person that believes in themselves though. Everyone loves the underdog but roots against the favorite. Use your confidence to make yourself a passionate underdog and people will like you. In a social setting use your confidence to show people you are serious but not uptight, don’t run, walk slowly, don’t start yelling, hold yourself back. Relax but come across like you know your shit. Everyone likes people that know their shit but hate people that talk too much like they know everything. News flash - you don’t know everything so don’t pretend that you do. DON’T BRAG BUT COME OFF WITH PASSION - AND NOT AS A FANATIC!

RULE 3: MAKE PEOPLE LIKE YOU

A very important rule is to make people like you. You don’t have to be the center of attention but you just need to make people like you. There are a number of ways to do this but the easiest is to make people laugh - once. Make an intelligent comical statement about your mutual surroundings. This serves a few purposes, first it shows her that you can listen, because you’re observing your surroundings. Girls love people who listen and observe (though they secretly hate people who fawn). Also if you make someone laugh it’s the key to their heart. Its the best way to break down a barrier. One joke is all you need. One single good funny statement. If you can show a girl how to laugh, there’s a decent shot you can take her home. Don’t go overboard, keep it simple - then start talking and most importantly asking questions - they will like you if you do. This works in business too - if you make people laugh they won’t think you’re another business card whore. Making people laugh makes you the center of attention in a positive way. There’s an old saying for speakers - always lead in with a joke - there’s a reason for it - laughter is the worlds greatest way to relax. When people are relaxed they listen.

RULE 4: OFFER PERCEIVED VALUE

Girls Love Value. Not Money - Value. Offering Value is buying a girl dinner or introducing her to everyone at the party, this is good. The opposite of this is trying to buy the girl as a trophy and show off her legs. This serves the opposite effect. The trophy girl that is only there for your money will never respect you - ever. She respects the beggar in the street more than you because at least the beggar is honest that he wants to buy booze and you are pretending to really want her - when are you want is a lease on her legs.

Now how do you offer perceived value?

Power is a form of perceived value but it only works once. This could be a big job, a lot of money, a nice car, be the host, the social butterfly, the smartest guy in the room, be the sexiest person there, be the most relaxed guy in the room� these are forms are perceived value � these get peoples attention to want to learn who you are. However they only work once, a girl isn�t gong to far for you because you are the VP of Chase. She may be impressed but she won�t fall for you unless you offer something else. Initial perceieved value is how you get attention. Making a girl laugh works very well and doesn�t require any money or social standing. The same works in networking, make people laugh or offer some type of reason people will want to be around you. If all you are is a business card whore, no one will give a shit.

Now the trick to truly picking up girls is offering ongoing perceived value. What is that? This is what makes a girl stay with you for more than 5 minutes. It could be that your good in bed. It could be your funny, it could be your smart. A gorgeous guy that is airhead is not going to get a girl to stay with him if hes not good in bed for the most part (the opposite isn�t true � guys may stay with a hot stupid girl even if she sucks because guys are idiots). It could be that you�re funny. It could be that you keep taking her to the most amazing parties. It could be that your just such a good guy. Offering value once may get her once, if you want a one night stand that�s fine but it won�t work long term. However if you try to buy her � throw money at her � that will be your demise � if at some point you run out of money you no longer offer any value � this is a fake relationship because the value you offer is bought and not based on your own good graces. If a concierge or checkbook is what�s offering her value � then she should be dating the concierge or JP Morgan and not you and if she is � she will leave you when Cornelius Vanderbilt comes along.

In a business setting offering perceived is making people think you can help their careers. Maybe you can be a source of consistent business, maybe yo know a lot of people, maybe you know a lot of employers, maybe you host the events and can connect people to anyone, maybe you can offer deal flow, maybe you can offer people access to capital, maybe you can help people fulfill their dreams. You need to offer people more than just the deal you present at that moment if you want to build a relationship. Networking is not about now, it�s about the long term. Sure you can be a business card whore and strike a deal on the spot � but 99/100 people you meet you won�t be able to do a deal with and you will lose out on 99 potential relationships. Perhaps that 99 relationships could have resulted in 3 deals and 5 friends � that�s a lot better than the 1 deal you got being a business card whore.

Me, i”m a connector. I make introductions that are valuable. Everyone that is my friend knows when they need something they come to ask me and there’s a good chance I put them on the right path to it. Therefore, I am valuable to them. I have friends that want to start a company, they ask me how to build their website, I have friends that are investors, they ask me to forward them deals . I have friends looking for a job they ask me to find them a company or a recruiter. They all trust my opinion and come to me. I actually can offer value. However the way I started this is by offering people things before they asked. That gained their trust. When I meet people I like and have a bond with - I offer introductions, gratis. They ask me what I want for it - I say nothing. In fact sometimes, I say in a Don Corleone sort of way that one day when I need something you’re going to offer to help me back, i’m not even going to ask. And you know what - THEY DO. People offer to help me without me asking now - because I did it for them FIRST. I gave them perceived value. Now it doesn’t matter if my introductions go anywhere - only that they were qualified introductions - whether a deal closes i can’t control - after all I’m not trying to broker it. If you offer perceived value but try to take a cut and broker something you will not build the good will neccessary to be a master connector because if you’re introductions don’t work out you will be blamed for them and you can fast erode your good will for making the connections. When you don’t ask for anything in return then its not your responsibility and people say thank you for being so altruistic.

RULE 5: BE THE PERSON EVERYONE INTRODUCES TO THEIR FRIENDS

This is an offshoot of perceived value. You don�t need to be the most well known or be person with the most people around you but be the person everyone wants to know. Usually this means be the host or I can be the person who if you look at the people around him � their heads are tilted sideways intently listening. Body Language is very important, if you see people standing upright listening they are probably pretending to listen but if you see them with their heads tilted, kind of leaning in, then they are probably really listening. Now you don�t need to be the most well known person but you want to be the person that everyone introduces their friends to. It is much more important to be the person that everyone wants to introduce to their friends then be the speaker or the MC or the big shot. Why? Because a personal introduction is the most valuable way to meet someone new.

The easiest way to pick up a girl is to get her best friend to introduce you. Nothing gets you in the inner circle quicker then a nod and wink from chic to chic. Say you want to pick up the hottest girl in the world, become good friends with her ugliest friend. It works. When you are introduced by someone that they value or like you are now in the door. The same holds true in business � introductions are key. If you want a meeting with a VC, what�s the best way to get it? Go to an event, hear an investor speak then go up to him afterwards? NO. Get to know someone he trusts and get an introduction from someone �in network�. Here in network is someone from the investor/startup community but in life it�s the group of girl friends. You only need to get an introduction once and its worth 1000 cold calls and pick up lines.

RULE 6: ALWAYS LEAVE PEOPLE WANTING MORE

The single most important thing is to know when to quit. Sure you can get this girl interested but you want to either leave with her or leave her at the right time. It�s usually better to leave because trying to sleep with someone when you first met them is a wild card.

Hang out for a bit then go back to your friends, come over again later, talk some more, introduce your friends to her friends and mix it up a bit. If you can merge groups that is very powerful.

However, whatever you do, don�t lay all your cards out on the table at once, don�t talk about the next time you will see her. Talk about the moment and as soon as the moment gets boring excuse yourself, get her number and call her in a few days. Don�t rush. If you rush or try to take a girl home right away � she will smell predator and dump your sorry ass. Sure sometimes the chemistry is right and you can pull it off and its worth it but unless you know the chemistry is right (making out on the couch in the lounge for an hour) don�t try to take her home � it�s not worth the risk. Would you rather kiss her a little today and sleep with her tomorrow then try to sleep with her today and get shot down and never see her again. You also better believe you just killed a shot with any of her friends.

In business talk until it gets boring, don�t try to close a deal the first time you meet someone, leave it so you will meet up with him or her again and talk specifics. You don�t want to kill a potential relationship by trying to fuck them right away. Wait. Move slow and steady. Build a relationship. When I meet people I never try to do a deal. I ask what they need help with and I go home and make some introductions that can help them, then follow up a few days later and try to do a deal myself. The good will I build by making introductions makes it much easier for me to do a deal myself when the time is right. I also don�t push it and don�t rush people so they are more prone to trust me. I always know when to walk away and I always follow up casually and offer help before asking for anything in return.

CONCLUSION:

I hope this was helpful. I�m just trying to pass some of my knowledge back to the world. Share some tips and tricks that I�ve learned and hopefully help people build better relationships in life and business.

Most people don’t understand what networking really is. To most networking is going to a conference and getting to meet everyone on the floor for 30 seconds, shake a hand, collect a card. This is wrong!

A couple of reasons: first, most people won’t remember you, second if they do, you’ve done nothing to build a relationship and the odds are you offered no value - add to them.

I call these people Hyper Networkers - they come off like leeches circling an entire group sucking a card out of everyone.

The professional networker takes a different approach. First, his goal is to get to know the host, not the speakers, THE HOST and then to offer something of value to the host - maybe volunteer to help at the next event or refer him a speaker or something to that tune. The professional networker doesn’t ask for anything in return. He knows that by getting on the good side of the host - a connector - he can reach the entire group - with a personal introduction.

Would you rather meet someone in the audience out of the blue or be introduced by the host? Which looks better for you?

Let’s dig a little further, say the host is crazy, greedy or just not around - what do you do? You meet people. You talk to people. You have a CONVERSATION with people, you TRY TO AVOID TALKING ABOUT BUSINESS as much as possible. Why? As soon as a conversation slips to be about how you can work together, you’ve lost the ability to build a relationship for the moment because you’ve both slipped into greed mode and your guards are up and minds racing with dollars.

When I meet people, I try to avoid talking about myself and what i really do or my real goals. If it’s an investor I will try HARD not to pitch them on anything even if they ask and if they insist i will be coy and change topics. If its a business development deal, I will allude to possibilities but not go into any specifics and maybe ask about the persons lunch. Nothing is worse than turning a good conversation into a purposeful conversation when you first meet people - at least if you are like me and pride yourself on building relationships. Relationships are the reason you get asked to go to drinks, it’s the reasons to get invited to go to parties, they are the reason people talk to you. Unless your ass is being kissed but then those people won’t show up to your funeral when all those feet up your ass cause a heart attack.

When it comes to meeting new clients, i first ask them about themselves and their passions and what they really want to do before talking about anything about business when possible.

I would much rather learn what someone’s passion is or aspirations then how “we can work together”. Why? A) You can actually get into a real conversation and maybe even make a friend (GASP) but in truth when you ask people what they want to do (as long as they don’t say its what they are currently doing), you have successfully managed to separate that person from his or her job and got the person to completely let their guard down.

Think about this - would you want your boss to find out that you really want to start a XYZ widget bangers and that you secretly hate your job? Of course not! But now that the person has shared this with you, you are now on the inside. They are not going to think nearly as critically about you and will be more likely to help you and it will be a lot easier to build a relationship. Try it out for yourself. Better yet if you can put yourself in a situation where you could potentially help people achieve their personal goals - you’ve just struck gold. Like when I introduce myself to people, I first say that i love helping people start companies, on my business card it says “helping people fulfill their dreams” - then i can go into my day job (running an online ad company) and they will be truly curious because i first offered potential value to them before asking for anything in return.

Another very important part of networking is listening, let people talk. Ask questions, don’t try to pitch or sell yourself. NO one cares. No one wants to be sold, they want to be heard. Listen to people, it works with women to by the way. I”m not talking about the sensitive guy shtick that guarantee you get your heart broken but just plain listening. Girls love to lalk, (i’ll address this in my next post.) People love to talk about themselves. Just ask probing questions like “howd you end up where you are now?” Do you like your job? What’s your dream? When you out of the suit and tie, what do you do to relax? These are great open ended questions that people will usually fervently answer and think well of you for asking.

Always ADD VALUE. Offer people help before asking them for something. In fact if you OFFER value without provocation - there is a good chance they will bend over backwards to reciprocate without even realizing. YOu meet someone, introduce them to a few people that could help them. No one does this. The few people who do are the connectors - the professional networkers - the power players - the people that everyone aggregates around - better yet the people who others call when they need advice. Nothing is sweeter than to be needed and to really be able to help people. Karma works. Karma fucking works.

Somehow things work out. I’ll share a story here that is the exact opposite but to the same effect. For the last few months, I have used a new philosophy towards life & business. I call it Karmic Marketing. In past lives, whenever an interesting deal crossed my path, I’m attempt to broker it and get piece. Sure, sometimes you do great but you’re not really any value and more often then not you annoy people by getting in the middle. So i changed my tune, i took on the attitude that anyone that bothers to reach out to me and appears like a serious/smart/real etc… person, I will give an hour of time to too - for free, I will happily give free advice, help solve a problem, lend out my brain to anyone that passes by fairly low threshold. On top of that If i really like the person and get comfortable and we connect, I will volunteer to make a couple of introductions for them - without them asking. Whether its potential business partners, potential friends or investors, I will send out my “Happy Networking!” emails and see it off. When I first started this, I actually got negative feedback - can you believe someone not wanting a free introduction to an employer when they are looking for a job!? Anyhow, I got passed that and learned that my introduction approach is only meant for people with optimistic people and it works. This approach has gotten people to instantly trust me and i routinely get emails like “I am so happy i met you”, “your the last altruistic person” - not trying to brag, i really get these frequently.

So what’s the catch? None. I don’t ask for anything in return. In fact I go further when I meet people now, I tell them what I’m going to do, the normal reaction is “huh?” then i do it and show that i can follow through. Now it doesn’t matter if a deal ever gets done as a result of these introductions, its the fact that i go out of my way to try to help people that matters.

So how is this relevant to Bill’s post? Well its because good things happen randomly and life’s path is unpredictable. I’ve spent the past 2 years trying to figure out my next big move and i finally figured it out (the future of online advertising) and before i even had so much as a deck together, I’ve had a dozen investors and people that i’ve helped offer to help me back. I didn’t ask but in the next week without so much as trying to get a meeting with anyone, I have 3 meetings and was invited to a pitch thing in january.

Life happens in weird ways. Do good, stay strong and roll with it, eventually good things happen if you hold your convictions….

just my 2 cents…

richie “the bootstrapper” hecker

Networking today is flawed.

Most events are flawed.

Most events are boring.

Most events are a waste of time.

Why?

Take for example an investor panel. You have 4 investors on a panel and 40 entrepreneurs in the audience. The panel lasts 2 hours, followed by Q&A, followed by every entrepreneur going over to every investor shaking his or her hand and asking for money. The investor usually says “sounds interesting” or “no” or “ok”, no real feedback is provided in those 20 second and often times the investors feels / looks annoyed being approached.

Let me go further.

The entrepreneur doesn’t give a shit what the panel has to say. He really doesn’t. He doesn’t want to hear about how you turned a $2MM investment into $100MM. He doesn’t want to hear how you fucked up investing in pets.com. (except maybe because then he may think you’re dumb enough to invest in his bad idea)

The entrepreneur wants to find out 3 things:
1) How can i get the investors attention?
2) How can i get a meeting with the investor?
3) How can I get the investors money?

Does the panel serve any of these purposes? No.

Now let’s look at what the investor wants…
1) Network with his peers
2) occassionally meet a smart entrepreneur to invest in

What he doesn’t want it a hoard of gold diggers looking for cash.

The standard panel networking format does not help anyone. It is a waste of time - though you can still meet people and I still go to them - i just disagree with them.

A VC friend of mine always says “Always appeal to the lowest common denominator” no one cares how fancy your tech is if its too complicated for them to use it.

So what’s the solution?

Now this is a shameless plug for my own investor networking events - however I DARE you to find anyone who has gone to one of them that doesn’t love it.

Have a quick speaker or two make a simple speech on a specific topic. Limit it to 5 minutes per speaker, 1-3 speakers max. Followed by Q&A. Cut out the panel discussion no one cares about.

Then let anyone get up and give their elevator pitch to the group for FEEDBACK. PROACTIVE feedback. Let anyone there chime in with advice, questions, comments etc…max of 5 minutes per person total. Then after, if any investor is interested he can approach the person who had the idea separately after.

This way the entrepreneur gets real and quality feedback and the potential to interest investors WITHOUT pitching them directly.

This also does another thing. It allows people to build relationships. Maybe the idea is bad but because it wasn’t a straight shoot down, real advice can be given and accepted without hard feelings. Nothing kills a conversation quicker between an entrepreneur and a VC than the words “i’ll pass”.

This way the open forum serves to quality people for one another and provide real feedback and advice. it also is stress free and pitch free networking and involves no bullshit hobnobbing.

just my 2 cents…

So today I was called the “last good person” and “altruistic” but two separate people. I also left a third person (a family member) with her mouth agape when I said my networking philosophy.

What is it? Well, i’ve blogged about it before but it’s all about Karma.

Karma = doing good, adding value without asking for anything in return = GASP! you say. I say no. I say do onto others as you’d want others to do onto you. How so?

Well, when I meet people that I think are serious, I also offer myself to them and offer to help anyway I can, maybe advise on an idea or make introductions - WITHOUT them ever asking. I make unsolicited positive introductions. I also only introduce quality people to each other, well usually, we all make mistakes sometimes.

When I meet someone cool, I happily will give them free advice for a half hour and if i really like them, introduce them to potential partners or investors.

For example, I was leaving a meeting today and someone cornered me in the elevator and asked me what i do. I said I run an advertising company. He said he needed help with online advertising strategy.

I told him, “fuck online advertising - you need to build buzz.” He told me his product and in 30 seconds I came up with a very cheap and super viral marketing strategy for him that i am sure will succeed. It’s also something that has never been done. A big agency would have charged $100,000 for something i came up with in 30 seconds on the spot. Better yet, he asked me what i wanted in return, I said nothing. He was amazed.

I believe in karma. I will help anyone for a half hour that is serious and bothers to ask. Sure it kills time but you know what, that person will then offer to help me when I need it and go the extra mile, sometimes several miles. Also there’s a decent shot at building a real relationship out of it. Could I charge? Most of you will say I’m crazy for giving out so much free advice but I say, NO. I am just helping other entrepreneurs succeed. One day one of these guys will help me out and the world will be whole.

PS. As a result of my networking philosophy, I have a startup I’m working on and I have investors asking me for meetings - and I don’t even have the pitch ready yet.

Karma works.

No - not leveraging your money 100:1 to gamble on commodities and certain not leveraging the house to gamble in a casino … but leverage is extremely valuable …

Leveraging your network is very important. If you know 2 people that could use each other, make the intro, just a handoff and hope for the best and wish them Happy Networking! Even if it doesn’t work out they will thank you.

Or say you have 10 friends that are all in the same boat or same part of the industry, set up a dinner with everyone, then everyone will hopefully love it appreciate you and usually be happy to return a favor - or at least not get annoyed when you ask for a favor.

Leveraging your network to build goodwill is an extremely valuable tool that everyone should use. Avoid brokering unless you add value or if its your full time job. Make the intro’s…if a big deal is struck, hopefully they’ll send some crumbs back your way but at the least you’ve made 2 huge connections as a result and when you need help, you won’t get resistance or look or feel like a leech.

Leverage my friends, leverage your network!

1) Unless your job is a broker, never straight broker anything unless you actually add value. It’s stressful and leads to strained relationships.

2) When you meet someone you find would be a good person to know, immediately offer advice and introductions without them asking…be nice without asking for anything in return…very few people do it and it builds incredible good will and it doesn’t matter if your introductions end in a deal…it’s one of the few times intent is just as an important as result

3) If you can throw the events, then you control the power of the pulpit.

4) If you can’t/don’t want to throw the event, make yourself invaluable to host, make yourself the kingmaker and be the one to step in when there’s the issue.

5) If someone does you a favor, return it 2X

That’s pretty much it. That’s how I network and anyone that knows me knows I’m a super networker and rarely if ever ask for anything back and usually just like helping people. Helping people is the key= providing value.

Hope I’m helpful

Richie

For those of you expecting this to be an offshoot of The Art of Pitching, it is but it isn’t. I’m not talking about begging for capital but i’m talking about begging. I don’t understand why it’s not okay for people to beg on the streets but if you are a baseball team, it’s okay to send 10 years out on in the middle of the highway with a bucket to buy uniforms. It makes no sense to me how that is socially acceptable but begging on the street is not. So a drunk wants a new beer and a kid wants a new uniform - it’s the same recreational purpose! Additionally it’s fucking dangerous for kids to beg in the middle of the street, it is just wrong and should stop. Personally I don’t care if people beg, just leave the dam kids out of it. If you can’t afford your kids uniforms, you hit the streets, don’t send them. And for coaches that arrange this it is just shameful. Have a car wash, sell cookies or something but a bucket and a highway, come on. I don’t care how successful it is, it is just pain wrong. Additionally for those parents and coaches that support it, I hope you’re also supporting your local drunk and crack addict! Your encouraging the same behavior in your kids!

So by now you’re probably wondering what it is?

The answer is this; be a good person.

haha. you probably think I’m kidding I’m not. the most powerful networking tactic is to volunteer yourself to do small favors for friends. They don’t have to be big, it could be as simple as saving someone a seat in a conference or showing up at their office with a bottle of wine on a glum day. be nice and people reciprocate.

To go even further, I will show you what I do. Whenever I meet anyone that i think is a serious person and a potential good connection, I voluntarily introduce them to at least 2 people and as many as 10 people - without them asking. Of course the people need to be relevant to each other but they don’t have to have a specific purpose. Say you just met an entrepreneur in Kansas, you then introduce him to another entreprenuer in Kansas. Maybe they will be friends but they will appreciate it.

What is the effect of this? Well everyone you introduce will think you are super well connected and thus when you need something will be more inclined to help you out because they think you will be valuable to them in the future? Everyone loves you and it doesn’t matter if the people you connect ever do any business. They appreciate the gesture because no one ever does this. Heck, you can keep introducing people to the same 10 friends you already have. Sure you may not be a super networker but people will think you are and act accordingly.

More so, very few people ever volunteer referrals. This is for several reasons, first people are lazy, second people generally are not outwardly nice and volunteer to help, people are worried you may burn their friends, people want to take a cut and broker things.

If you actively volunteer introductions, advice or info, people are appreciate and remember that. They will give your name to people that need your help. If you are lucky you will find people that will volunteer to make 1 connection, if you are lucky. Most people you have to ask to tap their network. If you want to be a super connector, you must volunteer your network and make a flurry of referrals. It will overwhelm them, that is good. That means they will think you are a good guy and know a lot of people. One day you will need a favor from them and they will gladly do it because you spent 2 minutes and introduced them to 5 people they probably talked to once and then forgot about.

Everyone wants to know a super networker. You can be one now.

Now my last post was some general tricks for how to be a good networker. There are 2 more topics that need to be covered. The first one is

Be the Host.

Organize people and host events. Start a MeetUp.com group or leverage your linkedin connections. If you are the host you have the power. Use it. Find your local trade and industry groups, join the volunteer event committees. Sure you have to do work but you get credibility and contacts out of it. I’ve hosted many networking events and am on several event committees. I love it. I get to be in charge and be in control and people love me for it. Of course, this isn’t for everyone as it’s isn’t easy to be able to organize and run a meeting.

Now for the real networking tactic….the one that i use everyday … it is so simple you’re going to say “woah! why don’t I do that now!?”…. what is it?

Well, you’ll have to wait for my next post…hehe…

If you read all those fancy (and very good)M. Gladwell business books such as the Tipping Point and Blink, you learn about connectors. Connectors are those people you know that seem to know everyone. They are your friend Jim from college that whenever you find something you can and he comes through. In College maybe it was an ounce of hydroponic bliss but perhaps now its an invite to a sold show, a job referral or a new client.

Most people think hes a super networker, i could never be like him, I’m not social enough. Here’s a news flash, you don’t need to be social to be a networker superman.

I consider myself a professional networker. In fact it’s listed on my resume. Recruiters come to me all the time when they need people to hire and I have had friends tell otgher people “I don’t need to network, whenever I need something I just ask Richie”. While this may true and while AD (my friend) does not network and relies on me (which is dumb btw - always be able to do for yourself) he could easily do it. I’m going to share with the world my secrets to being a professional networker.

1) Get to know the host. If you are at an event, it doesn’t matter who you meet on the floor, they are too busy mingling to remember you, get to know the host. Oddly the host is usually the least social at the event because he’s worried about it and appreciates when people care about him. He also happens to be able to connect you with everyone in the room. Know the host and you know everyone.

2) Be Credible. Build credibility around what you are offering. If you do X, make sure you subtlely can prove you know your shit. You don’t want to sound like you are full of poop - people won’t remember you. Support your brand with a good business card, maybe a personal site with a blog and references on it. You don’t need to have a tier 1 domain (like bootstrapper.com) or an insane personal site (like RIchHecker.com) to stand out but you can do little things that help.

3) Have meaningful conversations. How many people you meet doesn’t mean poop for brains. Make a few quality connections. Don’t just pass around business cards. If you want to be a networker, people need to remember you. You don’t have to best friends but they need to be able to associate you with time/place/purpose if you want to be able to do my next point.

4) Leverage other people’s networks. Now, this has nothing to do with using people and even less to do with asking favors. It’s simply getting to know people and get to know what what makes them tick and who they know. Then when you need something casually bring it up and hint at it - if they are a good connection, they will volunteer their help. Don’t beg, market.

5) The single most powerful tool is….you will have to wait for my post next post….